Scott Mayfield was the No. 34 overall pick by the Islanders in the 2011 NHL draft.

DU released its “official” roster Monday, and it reminded me of how the Pioneers will again introduce three freshmen defensemen to the starting lineup — at least during the first part of the season.

Remember the Matt Donovan-William Wrenn-Paul Phillips situation two years ago? DU brought in the three young NHL-drafted defensemen and each played extensively right off the bat. In fact, then-juniors Chris Nutini and John Ryder — who finished the season as two of the team’s top defensive defensemen — were both scratched in October to give the young guys playing time. Later, senior Cody Brookwell spent some time as a healthy scratch.

The Pios enter 2011-12 in a similar situation, although just one proven vet might lose a lineup spot here and there early on. Newcomers Scott Mayfield, Josiah Didier and Joey LaLeggia are going to play early, and play a lot, but Ryder, John Lee, Phillips and David Makowski make up a solid blue-line nucleus. Ryder (redshirt) and Lee are seniors, Phillips a junior and Makowski a sophomore.

That’s seven defensemen, plus walk-on freshman Wade Bennett, who can also play forward but is pegged as the eighth D.

This just in from The Hockey News and a University of Denver news release: The Pioneers are ranked No. 1 among NCAA schools with 10 NHL “top prospects” — current or former players who are expected to someday play regularly in the NHL.

DU has 10 of the 78 current or former college players on THN’s Yearbook list that includes the top 10 prospects in each NHL organization. In NCAA circles, Minnesota and Boston College were tied for second on THN’s list, with eight apiece.

Former DU forward Scott McConnell (2000-04) of Colorado Springs has been named head coach and GM of the Chicago Steel of the United States Hockey League. McConnell, 32, joined the Steel in October and was named interim head coach and GM in February.

McConnell didn’t play much at DU (six games) but he has been a terrific coach and executive. He has been an assistant coach for the USHL’s Indiana Ice and Des Moines Buccaneers, and video coach for the Wilkes-Barre Penguins of the AHL and Team USA during the recent World Junior Championship in Buffalo.

University of Denver hockey recruits Daniel Doremus of Aspen and Josiah Didier of Littleton will become Pioneers this fall, a year earlier than originally scheduled. The two products of the Colorado Thunderbirds’ triple-A midget program are coming off excellent rookie seasons in the United States Hockey League, North America’s premier junior-A league.

Doremus is a 6-foot-1, 195-pound forward and Didier a 6-2, 200-pound defenseman. Doremus is replacing previous 2011 recruit Garrett Allen, who signed with DU but was pushed back to 2012 and is considering playing at a Division III school, and Didier basically replaces sophomore Matt Donovan, who signed with the New York Islanders in March.

The words “replacing” or “replaces” might offend some people, however, because these two young local guys earned their way on the roster this fall because they exceeded developmental expectations and are Divison I ready.

Doremus, 19, led the Sioux Falls Stampede with a plus-20 rating in the regular season and was second on the team with 19 goals. He played for the Thunderbirds the previous season, on the under-18 team coached by Kevin Whalen and former Pio D-man Shawn Kurulak.

Didier, who turned 18 last month, was alternate captain of the 2010 Thunderbirds U16 national champion team — the first-ever Colorado squad to win a Tier 1 national title. He was plus-5 in 58 regular-season games for the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders and is expected to be a mid-round NHL draft pick next month.

Both these guys are proof that you can now play midget hockey in Colorado and just a year in junior-A before joining a Division I team — and a perennial power to boot — with a scholarship in hand. DU coaches cannot comment on recruits until they sign, and Doremus’ and Didier’s signatures are forthcoming.

I had Tuesday and Wednesday off and was doing my best to stay away from the keyboard. Which was probably good because I needed time to think about Matt Donovan and his decision to sign with the New York Islanders after his sophomore year at DU.

Donovan, a skilled defenseman with good upside but a penchant to try to do too much, may have signed with the Islanders but I don’t think he will be playing with the Islanders anytime soon, if ever. Is he NHL material right now? Absolutely not. Is this just me talking or a handful of people smarter than me? Both.

So why did he choose to go play next season in the AHL or bus league and give up a chance to play on a great college team next season and come within a year of his degree?

That’s all I’m going to say about that. Good luck to Dono.

Looking ahead, I have strong reason to believe DU won’t lose anyone else early. Word is Drew Shore is too smart and too hungry to sign with the rebuilding Florida Panthers, and the Minnesota Wild are happy with the development of Jason Zucker, and Zucker, quite frankly, isn’t ready.

Shore, this year’s MVP, could be captain next season, wear an AC for sure, and dominate the game beside his brother, sophomore-to-be Nick Shore, and Zucker undoubtedly needs to get stronger.

Meanwhile, DU will probably add another defenseman to the incoming class below, and that guy and Wade Bennett will compete for the seventh and eighth spots next year. LaLeggia and Mayfield are blue-chippers and figure to be good replacements for senior Chris Nutini and Donovan. In fact, LaLeggia is the puck-moving guy like Donovan and Mayfield is the stay-at-home, beat-you-up guy like Nutini.

GREEN BAY, Wis. — The winner of this second NCAA Tournament Midwest Regional semifinal will play No. 1 (seeded and ranked) North Dakota in Sunday’s championship game. The Fighting Sioux are pounding RPI 6-0 late in the third period.

NICE FACILITY, BAD ICE. The ice is not good at the Resch Center, home of the Green Bay Gamblers of the United States Hockey League, the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay men’s basketball team and the arena football’s Green Bay Blizzard. The Pioneers complained about it after their Friday practice and, judging from the flow of the UND-RPI game, the ice is soft. This hurts DU, a finesse team. However, you’d think it would hinder the similarly fast Sioux, but that didn’t happen. Last time I checked the Sioux were out-shooting RPI 38-17.

SAME LINEUP. Subtle change to the DU lineup. Same 20 guys are suiting up, but defensemen Matt Donovan and David Makowski are playing together. That’s like stacking a power play. Donovan and Makowski are the Pioneers’ top offensive threats from the blue line. The other pairings are John Ryder with Chris Nutini and Paul Phillips with John Lee.

BALISY-ZUCKER. Western Michigan freshman center Chase Balisy and DU freshman wing Jason Zucker — along with DU freshman center Nick Shore — were teammates on the U.S. under-18 team last season. Balisy and Zucker grew up playing hockey together in California. Balisy is from Rancho Santa Margarita and Zucker was born in Newport Beach and raised in Las Vegas.

DU CONNECTIONS. Of course, RPI coach Seth Appert is an acclaimed former DU assistant, and Appert’s right-hand man, Bryan Vines, was a DU captain during that time. Also in the house is former DU captain Matt Laatsch (2000-2005) and his Anaheim Ducks colleague David McNab. Laatsch and McNab, the brother of former Pio Peter McNab and college roommate of DU coach George Gwozdecky, are scouting for the Ducks.

DU freshman Jason Zucker was named WCHA rookie of the year today and was joined on the all-rookie team by teammates David Makowski and Sam Brittain. Please read our Friday newspaper story about Zucker and his tremendous classmates.

Zucker also made the all-WCHA second team, along with Pioneers sophomore center Drew Shore and sophomore defenseman Matt Donovan. I do not have Colorado College’s award winners at the moment, and will be out of the office the rest of the day for my son’s first playoff game in Monument.

Zucker is DU’s ninth WCHA rookie-of-the-year winner, including the fifth freshman (the NCAA didn’t allow freshmen to compete until 1970, so the all-rookie award used to also apply to sophomores). Zucker is the first DU player to win it since Paul Stastny in 2005.

“It’s a great honor. It’s an awesome award to win, and it definitely means a lot,” Zucker said. “Obviously, I still want to win the national championship and other things.”

DU’s Dustin Jackson and John Ryder are listed as fourth-year redshirt juniors, but they aren’t exactly classmates anymore. Jackson, 24, chose to be included in “senior night” in the regular-season finale Saturday, and Ryder — who celebrated his 21st birthday on Sunday — did not.

That’s because Jackson intends to graduate and move on from college hockey, and Ryder will return for a fifth year. Before the Nebraska-Omaha series a couple weeks ago, I talked to the Omaha-born Jackson about returning for a fifth year. He said he missed the graduate school application period when he had mono in September, and that he was ready to move on. I didn’t write anything at the time, because I thought he might reconsider. He could still do that, but being included in senior night was a good indication that his DU hockey career is coming to an end.

I’m stoked that Ryder will come back. What a player. Unquestionably, he’s DU’s biggest hitter — and an absolute treat to watch when guys try to dance around him at the blue line and against the boards while entering the offensive zone. He just crushes people — and is rarely penalized. My son is a first-year peewee, and a defenseman, and I’m always telling him to play like John Ryder. When the all-WCHA ballots are tabulated, Mr. Ryder will get at least one vote. Everybody else seems to vote for the defensemen with all the points. But Ryder, who has zero goals and seven points, got one of my six votes (first team, second team, third team).

Speaking of … I’m not going to list my entire all-WCHA ballot, but here’s some of it (just today I noticed the first two teams are made up of a UND guy, a DU guy and a UMD guy):

Lastly, I haven’t seen any cyberspace reaction from my “What you might have missed” from DU’s 3-2 win over St. Cloud State on Saturday. It seems a lot of die-hards “missed” it: DU sophomore defenseman Matt Donovan was benched the entire first period, for apparently breaking his stick after the Huskies’ game-winning goal late in Friday’s 3-2 loss. Donovan, who is not having the season he or most anybody else had planned, was beat on the 2-on-1 rush just after a DU power-play expired. The next night, I was surprised to see Donovan go the penalty box and serve Jason Zucker’s five-minute major 1:46 into the game after Zucks was ejected for checking from behind. But that was the easy choice for coach George Gwozdecky, because Donovan wasn’t going to play in the first 20 minutes anyway.

Give it to Gwoz for sticking to his guns, despite realizing that, after Zucker was sent off, DU’s was without it two U.S. World Junior representatives from the 2010 gold-medal-winning team, and two key power-play guys.

OMAHA — Alright, I’ve read your emails and I’ve seen your comments on other blogs. So let’s get right to this. Is DU — 3-4 in its past seven games — primed to get bounced out of the first-round of the NCAA Tournament for the fourth consecutive year? My take is, maybe, sure … you never know … but I think this team will only get better. Yeah, maybe the Pios weren’t as good as people thought when they were last month — when they were 16-5-5 and riding an eight-game unbeaten streak — but at least the young guys are making mistakes that they can learn from now, and not tourney time.

DU is very young up front and very experienced on the blue line, and young and inconsistent in goal. If the blue line remains healthy and freshman goalie Sam Brittain finally takes control in net like he did the first part of the season, I think this team could still do some damage in WCHA and NCAA tournament play. And so what if they’re a No. 3 or 4 WCHA seed and No. 2 or 3 NCAA seed, which is where the Pios are/heading with three regular-season games to go.

BUT THE YOUNG FORWARDS HAVE GOT TO START PLAYING SOME DEFENSE.

Allowing two SHGs in each of the last two Fridays — now seven on the season — proves that this team has a tendency to overextend itself in key situations, which is somewhat normal for a squad that plays mostly freshmen and sophomores on the power play. I think the solution to at least limit the shorthanded goals is to put more experience at the point on the PP. In other words, make sure junior D John Lee or senior D John Ryder, or maybe even senior D Chris Nutini, are out there on the point with the man-advantage. They each can move the puck, maybe not as well as Matt Donovan, David Makowski and Drew Shore, but at least put them out there to compliment those guys.

UNO’s first shorty last night could have been prevented if freshman D Makowski jumped up from the blue line to keep the puck in the offensive zone. From my view in the press box, it was an easy play for Makowski. Instead, he played it safe and allowed UNO’s Joey Martin to get to the puck and skate it out of the zone. Problem was, DU had four forwards on the power play — freshmen Nick Shore, Beau Bennett and Jason Zucker, and senior Dustin Jackson — and nobody back-checked hard enough to help Makowski break up the 2-on-1 rush on goalie Adam Murray.

On UNO’s second SHG, guess who was out there for DU. Yep — Makowski, N. Shore, Bennett, Zucker and Jackson. Makowski needs help, people. As DU coach George Gwozdecky said after the game, his talented young forwards don’t know when to get in a defensive position in the offensive zone when puck possession is in question.

Bottom line: N. Shore, Bennett and Zucker are GREAT young offensive players. But I’m not sure they belong on the PP together right now.

Last night’s 5-2 loss at UNO was a direct result of extreme power-play failure. Oh-for-5 on the PP and two UNO shorties. Forget the 0-for-5. If you take away the shorties and the empty-netter, DU wins or ties.

Take away those mistakes, add some renewed confidence from Great Brittain, and DU is again dangerous.

Sophomore defenseman William Wrenn has bolted DU and joined major-junior’s Portland Winterhawks of the WHL. You can read the news versions about Wrenn’s midseason move online right now at www.denverpost.com/sports and in Tuesday’s paper.

Here’s my opinion: I hate to see a young guy leave school for a limited-time, hockey-only opportunity, particularly when it’s in the middle of the season. He’s turning down a marquee education and quitting the preferred NHL route he and his family chose before he left the U.S. under-18 team as captain and was selected in the second round (43rd overall) by the San Jose Sharks in the 2009 NHL draft.

That said, I think the split will serve both parties well, because it didn’t appear as if Wrenn was going to become the impact DU defenseman most of us forecasted. Although he struggled with hip and groin injuries throughout his tenure at DU – he had major hip surgery in Vail last spring — Wrenn was never better than the sixth or seventh D-man, and the only reason he probably played in as many games as he did (41) is because he was such a high-profile NHL prospect. The Sharks, of course, need Wrenn to develop, and if DU doesn’t play him, a good relationship could turn sour. It’s just the way it works.

I was at DU practice this morningworking on our melting pot story that is pegged to run on the cover of Friday’s paper. Kind of an off-the-wall recruiting story about the Pios signing fewer Canadians and finding Americans in places like Johnstown, Iowa, Edmond, Okla., and Las Vegas. In 1980-81, DU had 16 Canucks on the roster. This season, just four. Make no mistake, I have nothing against Canadians. We’re just looking at the growth of U.S. hockey. The art will probably be the best part of the piece. Haven’t seen it yet, but thanks to SID Erich Bacher, who organized the shoot, we apparently have images of the 10 or so guys from unlikely U.S. places wearing clothing to represent their hometown. For instance, Matt Donovan has a Oklahoma Sooners jersey on and Beau Bennett is wearing beach shorts and clutching a surfboard.

DU coach George Gwozdeckysaid he is leaning towards starting sophomore goalie Adam Murray (2-1, 4.90 GAA) on Friday against Northern Michigan and going with freshman Sam Brittain (10-4-3, 2.07 GAA) on Saturday. He also told me the tentative lines, but I must say, does it really matter? Fact is, the Pios are missing three guys that have produced 31 of 66 goals. As Gwoz joked to me, it’s kind of like rolling the dice. He did say the usual 11-forward, seven-D will be in place.

Talked briefly with freshman C Nick Shore, who said he is no longer required to play with protection on his right wrist. I expect Nick to have a tremendous second half.

Horrible news about CC star freshman Jaden Schwartz, who apparently suffered a broken ankle in Team Canada’s win over the Czech Republic this week. Schwartz is going to miss the rest of the World Junior Championship and all of January with the Tigers.

As expected, freshman wing Jason Zucker and sophomore center Drew Shore will report to Albany, N.Y., next week and represent DU in the final U.S. World Junior camp. Freshmen forwards Beau Bennett and Nick Shore did not make the cut, which will be announced Tuesday by USA Hockey in Buffalo, host of the Dec. 26-Jan. 5 World Junior Championship.

My sources confirmed Zucker and D. Shore made the 27- to 29-man preliminary roster and, if they remain healthy, are considered first-line players for the final 22-man squad. They will miss DU’s Dec. 31-Jan. 1 nonconference series against Northern Michigan.

Shore is having a sensational season, leading DU in goals (13), points (24), plus-minus (plus-13), power-play goals (four) and game-winning goals (three). Among freshman, Zucker leads the country in goals (12) and has a team-high 71 shots. He is third among Pios in plus-minus (plus-8), behind Shore and 2009-10 U.S. World Junior teammate Matt Donovan (plus-11). Zucker was the youngest member of the prestigious U.S. team last year.

Ugh! DU wins 3-1. I love hockey. Love to watch hockey. But this game was a tad boring. Bemidji State cycled the puck like crazy, but didn’t get many pucks to the net. Freshman goalie Sam Brittain only faced 15 shots, including two on breakaways. I thought he and sophomore defenseman Matt Donovan were the difference. Dono overcame a wretched first period to finish plus-3. DU is on the tail end of exam week. It showed.

“Those are the kinds of games where you really have to battle your emotions and keep them in check. As difficult as the game was for us, and as, at times, as frustrating for us, we found a way to win . . . To me, without a doubt, that’s a great sign for a team,” DU coach George Gwozdecky said.

1. Matt Donovan. Skilled sophomore defenseman had a goal and an assist and was plus-3.

2. Sam Brittain. DU goalie only faced 15 shots but two of his saves were on breakaways.

3. Jason Zucker. Freshman wing made up for a sluggish outing with the game-winning goal.

What you might have missed: DU junior wing Dustin Jackson returned to the lineup for the first time since March 27, 2009. He missed all of last season with a broken leg and the first 12 games this year with mononucleosis.

DU scores its, ahem, sixth power-play goal of the season with 5:49 left in regulation to beat Minnesota State 3-2 tonight at Magness Arena. Freshman David Makowski got the goal, his first of the season, with a slapper from the left point. The Pios are now 6-of-49 on the PP.

“Great pass by Johnny Lee and just finally good to get that monkey off my back,” Makowski said. “Definitely a big confidence booster.”

Drew Shore and Luke Salazar had DU’s other goals. Freshman wing Jason Zucker didn’t get a point, but he was fantastic. He had two shots clang off the left post, and eight other shots that required saves. He had five shots in the third period.

Some other quick player notes: D John Ryder made some HUGE hits, D Matt Donovan (assist, five shots) again proved why he’s NHL material with his beautiful helper on Sal’s goal, and freshman Jarrod Mermis had a nice game. The bad news: forwards Anthony Maiani, Beau Bennett, Chris Knowlton, Shawn Ostrow, Nate Dewhurst and Mermis still haven’t put the biscuit in the basket.

David Makowski. Pioneers freshman defenseman got the game-winning goal, his first career tally.

Matt Donovan. The NHL-bound defenseman had an assist and five shots.

What you might have missed

DU freshman center Nick Shore of Denver made his career debut at Magness Arena, wearing a protective wrist brace that limited his stick-handling and shooting. The brother of sophomore center Drew Shore broke his wrist in the season opener at Vermont and missed the previous nine games.

DU got a late goal from freshman Jason Zucker, his second of the night, but the Pioneers couldn’t overcome some neutral-zone turnovers and perhaps a quicker reaction or two by freshman goalie Sam Brittain in a 4-3 loss at North Dakota. The Pios committed three of the game’s four penalties and didn’t go on the power play until early in the third. The Sioux’s power-play goal early in the third stood up as the game-winner.

Tough nights for forwards Jesse Martin and Luke Salazar (both minus-3) and defenseman William Wrenn (minus-2). But Zucker and classmates Beau Bennett (first career point) and David Makowski (plus-3) were very good in their first NCAA experience at Englestad Arena.

I’ll produce a couple more blogs tomorrow, but here’s some goal-description copy to chew on:

The Sioux broke a 2-2 tie to take their first lead of the game at 16:43 of the second period. Just after DU’s all-senior line of center Jesse Martin, Kyle Ostrow and Anthony Maiani was reunited, it opposed North Dakota’s top trio of Knight, Jason Gregoire and Brett Hextall. The Sioux broke into the DU zone on a 3-on-2 rush and Hextall sent a circle-to-circle saucer pass to Knight, who tucked the puck under the sideways-sliding Brittain and into the net.

After UND freshman defenseman Dillon Simpson scored his first career goal to tie it, defenseman Matt Donovan put the Pioneers back ahead with a back-hander through Dell’s legs, after skating end-to-end with the puck.

Six minutes later, Mike Cichy’s long wrist shot through traffic beat Brittain high to the glove side.

Down 4-2, Zucker beat Dell with a rebound off a Beau Bennett shot. Bennett, the freshman who was Pittsburgh’s first-round draft pick in June, was credited with an assist for his first career point.

DU coach George Gwozdecky finished with Zucker and Bennett playing with sophomore center Drew Shore. That threesome and the all-senior line were outstanding last weekend against Wisconsin, and seemed to create some energy against the Sioux. Gwozdecky said he might keep those two groups together for Game 2.

If I were the skipper, I’d definitely keeps Shore with the two blue-chip freshmen, and I’d like to see the senior trio make amends and create some goals tomorrow.

Greetings from Grand Forks, where it feels like a fall Colorado day. Very comfortable; nicest I’ve seen it in my four or five trips here.

DU will take on the UND Fighting Sioux in about 45 minutes to begin a two-game series at beautiful Ralph Engelstad Arena, with Game 1 serving as Ed Belfour Night during the school’s Hall of Fame weekend. Tonight is also the Sioux’s home opener.

The Pios have juggled their lineup from last weekend’s 1-0-1 series against Wisconsin. Seems like they’re trying to better balance the top three lines, instead of putting the top six forwards on the first two. In other words, the Shore-centered group with freshmen Zucker and Bennett has been split up, as has the all-senior trio of center Martin and Maiani and K. Ostrow.

UND is going with sophomore Aaron Dell in net. He is 2-2 with a 2.88 GAA and .883 save percentage. He gets the nod over struggling junior Brad Eidsness (1-0-1, 4.46, .762).

Also, freshman defenseman Derek Forbort (illness) will not play. Forbort played on the U.S. under-18 last season with DU’s Jason Zucker and Nick Shore, and produced five points, all assists, in in first six games with the Sioux.

Wisconsin goalie Scott Gudmandson was tremendous tonight but DU rallied for a 2-2 OT tie at Magness Arena to finish with three points for the series. The Pios were terrific, peppering Gudmandson with 27 shots through two periods and 38 for the game. The all-senior MOM line of center Jesse Martin, Kyle Ostrow and Anthony Maiani came through with two third-period goals. Ostrow scored off Martin’s faceoff win at 8:18 and off Maiani’s rebound blast at 15:16. The MOM line was reunited for the first time since the exhibition weekend (Oct. 2-3).

Since the second line of sophomore center Drew Shore and freshmen Jason Zucker and Beau Bennett also played well (12 combined shots), I bet DU is done with its every-night tinkering until the wheels fall off. Maiani had a game-high seven shots and Ostrow produced six. Martin probably passed too much but was plus-2 with the rest of his linemates.

Also, DU went 0-of-3 on the PP, and is now a disturbing 2-of-32 on the year, but the first unit of Matt Donovan (point), Maiani (RW), Bennett (LW), Shore (C) and Zucker (rover) looked really dangerous on their last two attempts. Combined, DU had 10 shots in just three opportunities. In eight chances on Friday, the PP had just six shots.

Pios coach George Gwozdecky said tonight was his team’s best game thus far. I certainly thought it was a step up from Friday and light years ahead of last weekend’s fiasco against Boston College.

Please read our game story in Sunday’s paper. Here is the summary and chart:

That story also looks at other DU injuries, but I’ll put them here too. Junior forward Dustin Jackson (mono) and freshman center Nick Shore (wrist) are out. Sophomore defenseman William Wrenn (hamstring) is questionable and senior wing and team captain Kyle Ostrow (lower body) is probable. Ostrow didn’t practice Monday through Wednesday, but he skated today and said he will be fine.

Meanwhile, I was at practice today and saw the new power-play units. The first one features sophomore D Matt Donovan up top, covering both points in an umbrella look. Freshman Beau Bennett is in the left wing, senior Anthony Maiani on the right wing, with sophomore Drew Shore above the crease and freshman Jason Zucker in the (higher) slot. Shore and Zucker are interchangeable.

The second unit has defensemen John Lee and David Makowski on the points, with junior Luke Salazar (LW), senior Jesse Martin (RW) and sophomore Chris Knowlton. Coach George Gwozdecky said Ostrow would likely replace Salazar or Knowlton.

No. 1 BC was awesome tonight in its 6-2 win in DU’s home opener and Game 1 of the two-game series. The Eagles, the defending NCAA champs, emphatically won the second period, getting four goals within about a 10-minute stretch. On a handful of occasions, DU couldn’t keep two defensemen in front of the puck at the same time, and BC’s transition game was simply awesome. At least four of BC’s six goals came on odd-man rushes.

DU had its chances. The Pios went 0-of-6 on the PP and failed to score on two 5-on-3 advantages — one late in the first period and another in the third. If they would have converted on the 5-on-3s it would have been more interesting.

“I was pleased with our game tonight, but like I thought, I could see a lot of room for improvement,” BC coach Jerry York said. “I thought we took too many penalties and had some stretches where we have to think a little bit.

“Denver’s got a good club and it was a miracle they didn’t score 5-on-3. They were ringing it off the pipes, and John (Muse) had that one save with the glove.”

BC’s top line is incredibly quick. Center Brian Gibbons, right wing Cam Atkinson and left wing Joe Whitney combined for three goals, four assists, 11 shots and a plus-6 rating.

In his first game in a DU sweater, heralded freshman wing Jason Zucker has scored three goals in a runaway exhibition victory over the U.S. 18-under team. And all three of them were absolute beauties for the 2010 second-round draft pick of the Minnesota Wild.

One question: Who was that wretched-stained scribe who gave Zucker his only vote as WCHA preseason rookie of the year?

I’m telling you, this kid can play, and his body language is anything but freshman-like.

Zucker scored his third goal early in the third period to make it 5-1. The Pios are ahead 8-1 late in the third. Sophomore defenseman Matt Donovan has two goals and freshman Nick Shore also has lit the lamp.

It was just 2-0 to begin the third and the young Americans got within a goal in the first minute of the third. Huge third-period explosion for the boys.

Kensler joined The Denver Post in 1989 and has covered a variety of beats, including Colorado, Colorado State, golf, Olympics and the Denver Broncos. His brush with greatness: losing in a two-on-two pickup basketball game at Ohio State against two-time Heisman Trophy winner Archie Griffin.

Terry Frei graduated from Wheat Ridge High School in the Denver area and has degrees in history and journalism from the University of Colorado-Boulder. He worked for the Rocky Mountain News while attending CU and joined the Post staff after graduation. He has also worked at the Oregonian in Portland, Ore., and The Sporting News. His seventh book, March 1939: Before the Madness, was issued in February 2014.